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The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is to work with Unit4 to implement its Business World On! finance, expenses, human resources and payroll ERP on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.

IPSA believes using the solution will help make it easier for MPs to manage their business costs and expenses.

“IPSA is a high-profile body subject to significant levels of public scrutiny,” said Marcial Boo, IPSA’s CEO. “We needed a system which would provide accurate near-real time data, would be easy to use and would support users to comply with our scheme of business costs and expenses. Unit4 will automate much of the process. The innovation in Unit4’s technology, like cloud, mobile and artificial intelligence, will mean that IPSA, MPs and the staff who support them, will be capitalising on tools that are at the forefront of digital technology.”

Boo said using Unit 4’s flexible technology architecture will enable IPSA quickly to configure the system at a lower cost.

The authority hopes interaction, via the cloud, on any device, will make back-office finance and human resources collaboration easier for all of IPSA’s 4000 stakeholders, which MPs, their staff and volunteers.

“IPSA is embracing the latest technology,” said Derren Nisbet, managing director of Unit4 UK and Ireland. “By automating so much of their administration, MPs will have much more time to focus on Parliamentary business. There will be a very clear audit trail, enabled by digital, allowing the UK to maintain its place as a world-leader in the independent and cost-effective regulation of politicians’ business costs.”